


Panem and Circuses: A look at the woman who made the Games

by Redrikki



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: Gen, Harm to Children, Journalism, Pre-Canon, Unreliable Narrator, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-27
Updated: 2020-03-27
Packaged: 2021-02-28 16:41:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23230366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Redrikki/pseuds/Redrikki
Summary: As Panem prepares to celebrate the Third Quarter Quell,Games Gabtakes a look back at the brilliant innovator who almost singlehandedly transformed the Hunger Games from a rather tedious affair mandated by the Treaty of Treason into the entertainment juggernaut they are today.
Comments: 18
Kudos: 45
Collections: Genprompt Bingo Round 17, Worldbuilding Exchange 2020





	Panem and Circuses: A look at the woman who made the Games

**Author's Note:**

  * For [silveradept](https://archiveofourown.org/users/silveradept/gifts).



There were no cheers as the tributes for the First Hunger Games were paraded in their cages through the city center. Boos and jeers, yes, but no cheers. Memories of the Dark Days were too fresh in the minds of the Capitol and the dreary parade offered little to get excited for. 

The Games have changed a lot in the seventy-five years since then. As Panem prepares to celebrate the Third Quarter Quell, _Games Gab_ takes a look back at the brilliant innovator who almost singlehandedly transformed the Hunger Games from a rather tedious affair mandated by the Treaty of Treason into the entertainment juggernaut they are today.

* * *

The First Hunger Games have never been re-aired. Watching the archival footage, it’s not hard to see why. Entirely lacking in any of the pageantry we’d expect today, it was little more than a public execution. A boring execution. Tributes were pitted, not against each other, but against the various mutts and traps the Gamemakers threw at them. Without the usual slaughter at the Cornucopia to narrow the field, there were far too many tributes to keep track of and the whole thing dragged on for ages. Worse yet, there was a distinct lack of interpersonal drama and backstabbing as tributes actually cooperated together far beyond the temporary alliances we see today. Talk about boring!

The early tributes ranged in age from six to eighteen. They were drawn, not at random, but from the families of prominent rebels. Despite there being several promising eighteen-year-olds, the ultimate survivor was eight-year-old Nora Dune of District Ten. Survivor, not victor. Dune’s sole skill seemed to be sobbing hysterically as the older tributes died to protect her. Pathetic. It’s no surprise there were protests in the streets after _those_ results.

The Games might have been scrapped right then and there if it wasn’t for the brilliant and talented Almeda Graves. Prior to the rebellion, Graves had produced a number of popular game shows including _Escape Room_ , _Last Man Standing_ , and _The Chase_. During the Dark Days, she had worked closely with the army, developing boobytraps for the defense of the Capitol. Although she never saw combat herself, her youngest son was killed in the fighting in District Two. The Almeda Graves who emerged from the war was harder, colder, and more focused, but no less creative. Good thing too. The Games needed serious reworking to make them palatable to Capitol audiences who were still somewhat squeamish about the death of children, even rebel ones. Luckily, Graves had a few ideas.

The first was to raise the minimum age of the tributes. Everyone knows that district children mature more quickly than those in the Capitol, but there was widespread public outcry following the rather gruesome death of six-year-old Dare McCloud of District Seven. After a series of surveys to determine what audiences would tolerate, the minimum age was set at twelve. This was clearly a wise move. Although 257 twelve-year-olds have died in the Hunger Games to date, their deaths have never caused the same sort of extreme reaction as McCloud’s.

Next, Graves went to work on introducing the much needed element of personal drama which had been the hallmark of both _The Chase_ and _Last Man Standing_. As much as raising the minimum age made the Games palatable, this second innovation made them _exciting_. Who among us doesn’t wait with breathless anticipation for the ultimate disintegration of the Career pack? Who hasn’t watched with tears in their eyes as former friends become the bitterest of enemies in the name of victory? The problem with the First Hunger Games was that, beyond their own survival, the initial tributes had little to motivate them to win. All of them were orphans whose parents had been executed and had little to look forward to beyond crushing poverty and boredom in the districts. No wonder they’d been so eager to throw their lives away in defense of younger tributes!

In the run-up to the Second Hunger Games, President Maga unveiled the project which Graves been secretly working on for months in a bit of brilliant mandatory viewing. Touring a freshly-built and opulently-appointed house in District Three, he announced that henceforth, each future victor would not only be pardoned of their districts’ crimes, they would receive both a house and a pension of life! If that wasn’t enough to motivate them to fight, their entire district would benefit from their victory, receiving enough food to feed everyone for a whole year. Tributes would be mad to help each other with so much on the line. 

As before, Graves’s innovations paid off. Although several alliances formed early on, none lasted beyond the third day, or broke up without bloodshed. Ambitious Dolomite Veers of District Two became the first to turn on his companions, crying “I can’t let my sister starve,” as he bashed his sleeping opponent’s head in with a rock. Today, such behavior is largely expected from the so-called Career districts of One, Two, and Four, but, at the time, district audiences were angry and horrified. Veers was welcomed home with open arms in District Two, but was pelted with refuse at several points during his Victory Tour. Capitol audiences, meanwhile, were far from upset with his example of typical district brutality. 

Not one to sit on her laurels, Graves continued to tweak her formula. Capitol audiences had been entertained by the Second Hunger Games, but they hadn’t been _invested_ in them. Not the way the districts were. The following year, she introduced her final innovation: gambling. There had been a few instances of illicit gambling in the previous years, but for the third Games, she legalized and formalized the process. All bets would be filed with and enforced by the government. The odds on each tribute were established by the Gamemakers, mostly based on their relative ages and physical prowess. 

The introduction of gambling was a smashing success. Capitol audiences were invested as never before. Literally! Every year, dozens are driven into debtors’ prisons after foolishly betting it all on the wrong tribute, but it’s all in good fun. Even beyond the economic impact, gambling has changed the Games in ways even Graves couldn’t have anticipated. 

The first five Games began the morning after the tributes’ parade, but the gambling public soon demanded more time to make informed bets. In year six, Gamemakers ceded to public demand. They extended the period between the tributes’ arrival and the start of the Games and broadcast the resulting footage. Three years later, Gamemakers introduced interview night. Graves herself had retired by then, but she was reportedly thrilled with the addition.

* * *

As we breathlessly await the announcement of this year’s Quarter Quell, it’s hard to imagine where we would be without Almeda Graves. Would victors like Katniss Everdeen and Finnick Odair still be household names? Of course, the Games would still be mandated by law, but would we even care about them? How’s that for a horrifying thought!

See you at the Games and may the odds be ever in your favor!

**Author's Note:**

> Doubles as my gen prompt bingo full for "the way we were: pre-canon."


End file.
